See assail in Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus II
verb
To hit heavily and repeatedly with violent blows:
assault, baste, batter, beat, belabor, buffet, drub, hammer, pound, pummel, smash, thrash, thresh. (Informal) lambaste. (Slang) clobber. Idiom: rain blows on. See attack, strikeTo attack with harsh, often insulting language:
abuse, rail against (or at), revile, vituperate. See praiseTo set upon with violent force:
aggress, assault, attack, beset, fall on (or upon), go at, have at, sail into, storm, strike. (Informal) light into, pitch into. See attack
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